Six people confirmed dead after bus slams into Via train at crossing near Ottawa

OTTAWA — With frantic passengers screaming at the driver to stop, a double-decker transit bus smashed through crossing gates and slammed into a Toronto-bound passenger train during the Wednesday morning rush hour, leaving at least six people dead and sending more than 30 others to hospital.

The horrific impact sheared the front off the bus and knocked Via Rail’s Train 51 off the tracks, shattering lives and unleashing chaos. When the clouds of debris settled, five people, including the bus driver, were dead at the scene. A sixth victim died in hospital.

Bodies of the dead and seriously wounded littered the tracks and a nearby grassy ditch.

“The horror was from the people who were ejected from the bus,” said passenger Gregory Mech. “It was about eight or 10 people along the tracks … that were either hurt or passed away.”

Eyewitnesses reported the bus did not seem to slow down, with one passenger saying he saw the driver desperately slam on the brakes before the impact.

Michael Chartrand, sitting in the back, said, “He started to slam on the brakes, but it wasn’t a full slam.

“Half a second later he fully put the brakes on.”

The 21-year-old Carleton University student looked up to see what was happening “and the next thing I saw was the train going through the front of the bus.”

The driver was identified by a family member as Dave Woodard, who had about 10 years experience.

Mech said he was sitting on the second level near the middle of the bus when he realized the train was bearing down and passengers around him were screaming “whoa” at the driver to slow down.

“The signal lights for the train were on, the guard rails were down. People were screaming for him to stop (but) it was a second or two before and it was too late.”

Mech said he and the other passengers grabbed hold of the seats in front of them to brace for the collision. He stared straight ahead as the train tore through the front of the bus, jerking the bus left and right.

When it was over, passengers — some crying — made their way to the only exit from the top deck. The first two or three steps were gone.

Carolyn Croteau suffered broken ribs and cuts, said her husband, Dennis. She was standing in the middle of the bus.

“She didn’t realize what was going on. She just heard people screaming ‘Please stop’,” Dennis said.

The impact sent Croteau flying until she landed on another passenger. “Everyone was crawling and trying to get out. Somebody pried the door open,” Dennis said.

Witnesses outside the train said the bus didn’t appear to slow before the collision. Mark Cogan told The Canadian Press that the bus drove through the railway safety barriers.

“The guard rails were down,” Cogan said. “The train was going through. I was just looking around watching things happening and noticed the bus, the double-decker bus … he just kept going. I thought maybe there was a side way around. But he instantly, he just smoked the train. He went right through the guard rail and just hammered the train. Then it was just mayhem.”

In total, 31 victims were taken to hospital, 11 in critical condition. Another three arrived at hospitals on their own. None of the 103 passengers on the train was seriously injured.

Following the crash, anxious family members of passengers on the bus gathered just west of the collision.

One man broke down weeping and held his head in hands as he spoke on a cellphone.

Cedrick Gonga came looking for his mother, Bridget. He had dropped her off to catch a bus just minutes before the crash. He couldn’t reach her on her cellphone or at work. He later learned she was on the bus and had injured her hip and been taken to hospital in stable condition. She was expected to be released Wednesday, he said. Jean Laporte, chief operating officer of the Transportation Safety Board, pledged a full and independent investigation “with the aim that it doesn’t happen again.”

Eleven Transportation Safety Board investigators were at the scene of the 8:50 a.m. crash, starting a probe that includes retrieving the event recorders known as black boxes from the train and the bus, and the device that records what happened with the guard arms at the crossing.

The probe will consider the site, the sight lines and safety of the crossing and the gates. It may take several months, but any safety information discovered will be passed on the public immediately, said Laporte.

Train 51, from Montreal, had just left the Ottawa station and was pulling into Fallowfield station. On board the train, passengers said they felt a jolt as the bus and train collided. For a split second, through the window, Lianna Begg, 24, said she could see the train had hit a bus.

“You could hear the front of the bus scraping against the train,” she said.

“It made me sick to my stomach.”

Begg’s view of the bus quickly disappeared as dust, rocks and gravel were kicked up from around the train.

The collision has raised questions about the safety of rail crossings in the area.

A study had focused on a nearby crossing recently, but not this one, officials said. A contractor for Via maintains the gates at the crossing.

Amalgamated Transit Union president Craig Watson said at the scene that the tragedy has had a tremendous impact on drivers.

“You just don’t know what the cause might be,” he said. “It could be medical, mechanical, there’s just so many variables in this game.”

In the early 2000s, the city had a plan to build an underpass and a Transitway next to it to separate traffic from the trains.

The $40-million project, whose cost was to be split among the city, provincial and federal governments, was put on hold in 2003 when it turned out that an unusual kind of rock in the area let water flow too freely into the construction trench.

The problem was solvable, city officials said at the time, but it would have cost more money; city council would have had to vote to spend it in 2004 and the other governments would have to be asked to kick in.

In 2002, then-mayor Bob Chiarelli described the intersection of tracks and road as “a very, very severe public safety issue.”

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau said they did not know of any other incidents at this location, although they were looking into it. A safety assessment of the intersection was done in 2005.

News of the collision brought an outpouring of concern and support for the victims and their families, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling it a “tragic morning in the Nation’s Capital.”

“On behalf of all Canadians, Laureen and I extend our thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this tragedy,” Harper said in a statement.

John Baird, the Member of Parliament for Ottawa West-Nepean, issued a statement expressing his “great sadness” at the news of the accident.

“I am extremely proud of the resiliency of the people of Ottawa and how we face adversity and tragedy together as a community. I have no doubt that today, our city will mourn those we’ve lost, and support those in need as we move forward as a city, and as a community.”